Officials work to prevent accidents, slide-offs along I-164

Winter weather contributes to slick roads, they say

EVANSVILLE - Local law enforcement officials say several factors contribute to making Interstate 164 one of the area's trickiest roads for driving during winter weather events. It is the site of numerous slide-offs and wrecks each time it snows.

"No 1, it's elevated; No. 2, it's out in the open; No. 3, it probably has the highest speed limits of any roads in the county; and No. 4, it has several overpasses that freeze and ice over more quickly than other road surfaces," said Vanderburgh County Sheriff Eric Williams.

"And it is a road that people get lulled into a false sense of confidence. You could be coming off of I-64 onto 164 and everything is fine and you're traveling at the speed limit and in a matter of a few hundred yards it can go from fine to very, very slick and hazardous."

Indiana State Police Sgt. Todd Ringle said the most accidents and slide-offs on that stretch during wintery weather happen north of Lynch Road. He identified it as a top problem area for his six-county district.

He said state police responded to about 20 calls for slide-offs and accidents after the area's latest snowfall on Tuesday night.

One of those was a fatality Wednesday morning. Oakland City, Ind., resident Judy Coomer, 58, was killed after her vehicle rear-ended a pickup that had slowed down because of the slide-offs of other motorists.

Evansville police and deputies from Williams' department were busy Wednesday morning. A Vanderburgh County dispatch supervisor said dispatch received 43 calls about problems on I-164 from 4 to 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

Though significant snowfall wasn't expected, an Indiana Department of Transportation spokeswoman said the roads were treated and addressed appropriately.

Spokesperson Cher Goodwin said crews headed out once the snow started falling, and that the salt left over from previous road treatments was more than enough to pretreat the stretch of interstate.

Ringle said if drivers would only slow down, many of the problems would be alleviated.

He noted that he was out on I-164 at 4 a.m. and said the roads were "passable" if drivers weren't going very fast.

"My top speed was 35 mph. But if you decided to go faster than that, you were most likely going to end up in a ditch," he said.

"It was people driving too fast. That is something we are always trying to preach: Slow down. The most problems we see in our area are on the interstate system, and that's just people driving too fast."

Though temperatures are supposed to stay well above the freezing mark this weekend, there is a chance of freezing rain early next week.

Ringle said his department is in "constant communication" with INDOT officials to address problems with winter weather and that the police meet with INDOT personnel on a quarterly basis to voice concerns.

From his perspective, Williams said, there probably needs to be better communication among the agencies trying to keep I-164 safe, but he said everyone is dedicated to trying to improve the road during the winter.

"I think that every party involved in (safety on I-164) is willing to talk about it and work to solve it," he said.